WilburWoods

Chapter 63 - Advanced Cultivator

Added 2023-07-12 17:13:57 +0000 UTC

Max shot up from his seat, spilling the wine. “The enemy!”

Durum nodded grimly. “So what do you say, Max? There are many treasures within the ruins. Would you rather they fall into the hands of this species?”

Max tried to calm himself. The adrenaline was humming up and making it hard to think. He needed to play it cool. Durum wanted him to play into his hand and he had done a good job. But now Max needed to think what he wanted.

“Give me a minute,” Max said. “And don’t pry into my thoughts.”

“I would not dream of such incourtesy,” Durum said.

Okay, so what I want is to Cultivate. Durum might give me something for free. I could just take that and go back to defending the outpost. And then what? I can’t level up when I’m with them. I did what I could, inching out the easy Cultivation levels. And honestly I can’t just babysit them forever.

Durum poured another glass of wine for himself and for Max. Mad nodded distractedly and took a sip of the swill.

But it’s not a lie or a political swindle what Durum is saying, is it? There are members of another species down there. No matter how you look at it, it's bad for humanity that they’re there. They’re looting the place for valuables. And even if there wouldn’t be much of those, they must be getting some serious experience down there. If I go down there, kill all of them and me and Durum’s dwarves get the loot, that’s this zero-sum game stacked that much further for Team Humans. Can I do it though? What level will they be?

“I’ll do it,” Max said, setting his jaw. “But I have a condition that you will have to fill forehand.”

“I see,” Durum said, revealing no emotion in his voice. “What condition?”

“You’ll need to provide me with resources to advance my Cultivation stage.”

“Oh,” Durum said, his expression relaxing. “You’re looking to advance to the greater Quartz-realm. Your progress is fast.

Max smirked and shook his head. Durum’s eyes widened.

“Already you will advance out of the Quartz-realm? It took me—”

Durum controlled himself, pressing his hand to a fist and hissing. “Impressive. It must be this path you have chosen. I am a lucky king to have such a powerful ally in you. Of course you will receive some [Spirit Coins].”

“I thank you, my liege,” Max said and nodded in respect. “This does not absolve you from my reward, should I come back alive.”

Durum chuckled. “I would expect no less from the dwarfmind. What do you want?”

“I need a plan for my Cultivation. And also any tools or upgrades you can give me regarding it. I am still working with the basic cycling technique.”

“Yes, that one is not a good one,” Durum agreed. “You will have your supplies and knowledge, Max. You have my word as a king.”

“Thank you,” Max said. “I was thinking negotiation would be harder with you.

Durum laughed. “We are friends of a sorts, I should hope. But I am a king, and my duty is for my people. However, I believe we are in a situation where our interests converge.”

“It does seem so.”

“How fortuitous,” The High-King said. “One thing I should tell you about your next stage of advancement, before you leave this room.”

“I’m listening.”

“When you reach the Amethyst-stage Cultivation, sheer grit will no longer suffice. It will still work. You can keep brute-forcing yourself all the way up to Ruby, as I understand it. I have no idea how Diamond and Celestial Crystallization realms work.”

“Celestial…?” Max started. “What do you mean about the next stage?”

“To advance faster and further, certain insights are required. A deeper understanding of Spiritual Energy. I can give you some notions of that when you return, but I am not a great expert. I am stuck in the Greater Amethyst-stage myself and do not know how to break into Sapphire-realm. Maybe it is not possible for us old races…”

Max got up and bowed. “Thank you for your guidance. I will ask you more about this when I return.”

Durum was about to fall into some dark and pensive place, but Max pulled him out of it. He put down the wine. “Of course. I will have enough [Spirit Coins] delivered to your quarters. I will have an expedition ready within the day.”

“A day?” Max asked. “But last time…”

Durum grinned. “Last time I was not the High-King, and we had to scuttle around in secret. Now things are done as I say.”

“I like that,” Max said and they shared a laugh.

Max sat down with Maverick in lap, face strained with concentration. They had been going at it for a few hours, but both of them knew they were close. Just a little bit more…

Sweat beaded on Max’s forehead and slid down his nose. The droplets would fall on Maverick, but he was too focused to complain. Max could feel him through their bond. The weapon was doing it’s damnest. It was scared of the expedition, just like Max. But while Max was afraid of death and failure, he felt Maverick’s fear was of a different kind. He feared the oblivion of loneliness. Max a pang of rare, true sympathy towards his companion.

Then they were finally released from their purgatory. The prompt they had been waiting for finally came.

Leveled up Quartz-level Cultivator (greater) to 15

+2 free attribute point

Advancement to Amethyst-level Cultivator (lesser) available

Max didn’t waste time. He scooped up the neat pile of [Spirit Coins] left on the table next to him. Max didn’t know how many there were. The prompt asked for 20 of them, and most of the coins from his hands vanished.

Advanced to Amethyst-level Cultivator (lesser)

+10 to all attributes

The surges of cool power enveloping them were stronger this time. It took a long time to get over the shivers. But Max felt good. Not good. Amazing. Like he had never been younger, stronger, smarter, just better. It was a feeling of true confidence, true power.

“YESSSSS!” Maverick exclaimed. “I HAVE THE POWERRRRR!”

“How do you even..? Oh right, childhood memories…”

“Our road to excellence is paved with my perseverance, grit, sheer force of will and resourcefulness bordering on peerless genius. You may bow in my presence.”

“Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not,” Max said and let out a dry chuckle.”

Maverick sighed theatrically. “Oh Maximillian. You should learn to enjoy the little things in life. Like your contributions.”

Max shook his head.

Maverick went on for a while, reveling in their, or rather his, greatness. Max was very pleased too, truth be told. And Maverick could feel it through their bond. Max was proud of him too, but the gun insisted on this charade.

Regardless, Max felt content. He was still scared to delve the ruins again. What if the enemy was stronger than he was? What if they would overwhelm him and the dwarves?

In the end Max shrugged. It didn’t help to dwell on it. Before he had an idea of what they were capable of, he could only use conjecture based on absolutely nothing useful. Max had asked for a more thorough combat report from the survivors, but they had been too scared and jumped up on adrenaline to make an analysis. They had only said some were fast and some used projectiles.

Max didn’t like fast, but he thought he could deal with projectiles. He brought up the stat screen and thought about where he should spend the points to best prepare for overwhelming numbers, speed and projectiles.

He had twelve free attribute points to use. He needed some Toughness. After the fight with the Stranger, he entertained no illusion that he could somehow keep his distance against a well built melee [Combatant]. At least not yet. He really needed to spend his points considering nothing but the upcoming conflict. More Constitution? Five into that. No Intelligence this time, sorry Maverick. Five into Toughness and Resistance each. Hell, make it six each. That’s all spent.

Name: Max Cromwell

Cultivation stage: Amethyst (lesser)

Class: Graviturgist
Level: 18

Health: 850/850

Stamina: 700/700

Mana: 1000/1000

Alliance: Joshua’s Group

Stats:

Strength: 24

Dexterity: 26

Constitution: 85
Intelligence: 100

Wisdom: 65